Country profile: Madagascar

Total cases

Daily new cases (7 days moving average)

Total Recovered

Total deaths

Total tests performed: How many tests did Madagascar so far?

Notes and announcements

On July 2nd 2020, the press briefings failed to report the location (region) of a number of positive cases. It is unclear whether these were from patients in any of the affected regions or in “new regions”

Age and sex of deceased individuals are not reported anymore either.

These omissions will affect the accuracy of some figures presented below

Map of cases: How many cases have been detected in each regions of Madagascar.

The press briefings failed to report the origin of some cases. These omissions will affect the accuracy of the figures below

COVID 19 in Madagascar?

COVID-19 is the disease caused by the novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV2) that emerged and was first detected in Wuhan, China in November/December 2019.

Through human movement (migration and travel) the virus has spread quickly throughout the World and has infected over 10 million people and killed more than 500 000 of those (July 2, 2020).

In response to the outbreak in China, the Government of Madagascar suspended flights to and from China on February 10th and then all international flights were suspended as of March 20, 2020.

Nevertheless, COVID 19 was first detected in Madagascar on March 20, 2020 from three individuals with recent travel history from Europe.

Authorities declared a Public Health Emergency through which, confinement measures were set in order to limit movement within and between regions of the Island. Some of these measures have since been relaxed.

Testing is available in the country mainly for suspected cases. The Institut Pasteur de Madagascar acquired the capabilities to conduct the tests in January 2020 and has conducted more than 14 000 tests so far. Recently, three other laboratories acquired the capabilities to conduct the tests too. Testing laboratories include Institut pasteur de Madagascar, the Centre d’Infectiologie Charles Merieux, the HJRA hospital and the Laboratoire d’Analyses Medicales de Madagascar. Collectively, these laboratories conduct on average 566.8 every day (5 day moving average).

As of July 05 2020, Madagascar has confirmed 2,941 cases in 17 regions and 32 deaths.

Time series: new cases, recoveries and deaths

Cumulative number of cases: How many cases were detected in each region through time?

Daily number of cases and moving average

Daily Number of cases per region

Selected Metrics and indicators

Test: The tests used to confirm that a person is infected with the virus is called a RT-PCR (Real time Polymerase Chain Reaction). It allows scientists detect genetic material that belongs to the virus and suggest that the person is currently infected (can pass the virus to another person).

Case: An individual who obtained a positive result after a molecular test by RT-PCR from one of the approved laboratories in the country, whether or not the patient presented symptoms to the disease. The reported case figures on a given date does not necessarily show the number of new cases on that day: this is due to delays in testing and reporting.

Moving average: The 5 or 7 day moving average is calculated everyday and consists of the average of the values of an indicator (e.g. cases) during the previous 5 or 7 days respectively. It allows to evaluate the overall trend of this indicator and helps prevent major events from skewing the data.

Positivity rate: This corresponds to the proportion of confirmed cases per 100 tests performed. The WHO has suggested a positivity rate of around 3–12% as a general benchmark of adequate testing. reference

Case fatality rate: The proportion of confirmed cases that died of COVID-19 so far.

Total tests performed: How many tests did Madagascar perform so far?

Tests per thousand: How many tests did Madagascar perform so far?

Positivity (5-day moving average)

Daily tests (moving average)

Time series of tests

Daily positivity rate and 5 days moving average

Total deaths

Overall case fatality rate

daily deaths

Age and Sex of deceased

How many people have died on this day and average daily death rate?